The Speaks SPEAK!

Derek and his delicious berry yogurt parGEIGH....

2009-03-23T10:59:00.001-04:00

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Goodbye DC...hello Chicago...

2009-03-23T10:57:00.001-04:00

Soooo....I know we slacked on the blog the last couple of months of the band's existence -- but since this may be our last tour together, we figured it might be fun to keep all our friends in the loop with the goings on of our 2-week Philippine Tour :)

After a last-minute b-day shindig at FLY Lounge last night, we somehow managed to make it to the airport on time. With the exception of former Attorney General John Ashcroft (only a political geek like Cal would know that - the rest of us wouldn't have recognized him from Ronald McDonald) being on our flight, the first leg of the trip was pretty uneventful. Butch was snoring and trying to take Derek's seat (Derek sat next to a young "oriental female" - Butch's favorite).

There was a HUGE welcoming party for a soldier who was returning back from the war which was pretty touching - his entire family was there, along with a large entourage of soldiers, airport workers & USO folk. Pretty cool thing to witness :)

Oh, and Derek bought himself a berry yogurt parfait. We would expect nothing less from him.

Next stop, Tokyo...

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

The Speaks heading back to the Philippines!!!

2009-03-21T17:15:00.002-04:00

Join The Speaks LIVE at the SM Supermalls hosted by Magic 89.9's Boy’s Night Out!

Let’s hold our heads up high at your favorite SM Malls when the clock strikes 5 on the following dates:

March 27 – SM Megamall
March 28 – SM North EDSA
March 29 – SM Fairview
April 3 – SM City Cebu
April 4- SM City Davao
April 5- SM Mall of Asia

Make sure to grab a copy of our album “This is the Time” under Universal MCA Music at these venues and we’ll be glad to sign it for you -- it’s something you definitely won’t regret!

This event is made possible by SM Supermalls, Magic 89.9, MYX, Toyota, Castrol, The Philippine Star, GMA 7, Edsa Shangri-la Hotel, and Universal MCA Music Inc.

"Tomorrow", live at the State Theater, New Video Footage now on YouTube!

2008-07-08T02:30:00.001-04:00

Check out some live video footage of "Tomorrow" off of our recent EP "... this is the time" below! This was filmed at the State Theater during our CD release last December... to give you a small taste of what might be in store for you this coming Friday!

This video has been submitted to DC101's "Open for Coldplay" contest - so we'll be asking all of our friends and family to help us out by voting for us to win this competition once voting starts in several days! Be on the lookout!!

Happy Fourth of July!!!

2008-07-03T15:09:00.001-04:00

Our first video blog!

2008-06-12T12:02:00.002-04:00

We've way overdue for an update here - the past couple weekends of shows have been pretty brutal, but we'll get some pics and vids posted soon.

But for now... we'd like to present our first of MANY video blogs! This is episode #1 titled "Cigarette Toss" and it happened just last night... and given the unbelievable nature we had to get it edited and posted immediately. Seriously - this was the first attempt, and we're just lucky the camera was rolling!

Enjoy... and check back for some pics / vids from the previous weekends shows as well as some more video blogs!

-dl.

Because it's been way too long since the last one...

2008-05-20T18:12:00.002-04:00

Love to hear different peoples' takes on our music -- makes me smile =)

I think he actually almost passes out around the 2:55 mark...

Videos from the Las Vegas Indie Rock Wars!

2008-05-08T17:01:00.005-04:00

So the videos from our performance in Vegas were finally posted to YouTube so you can all finally see what our show was like: the stage, the lights, the sound, the crowd... and what's great is they didn't just put a short clip of a song or two, but the ENTIRE show has been posted! Maybe you've been to a recent show and dug one of our new tunes? Well you can see the show in it's entirety ALL on YouTube!

Here's a link to the playlist on the Live Indie Rock Wars page: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=C1CD7D56A5B66DCD

There are 8 videos total and here's the song breakdown for all of the videos:

PT1: Carpe Diem, Runaway
PT2: Life's a Joke, *Wreaking Machine
PT3: Tomorrow, *Caught Up
PT4: BLT
PT5: High
PT6: *Coming Home
PT7: *Turn It Around
PT8: Regret

Any song marked with an '*' is a new song... so give them a listen and let us know what you think! Leave us some comments here, rate us and comment on the videos themselves and tell us what you're thinking!

Here's PT2 where you can check out "Life's a Joke" (oldie but goodie) as well as a new tune "Wreaking Machine":

... and don't forget to pick up some tickets to our show at the 9:30 Club for next Saturday, 5/17. This show is going to be INSANE. We may have a surprise or two up our sleeves (don't we always...??).

-dl.

TT Reynolds

2008-05-04T18:18:00.006-04:00

So, we played our favorite little venue in Fairfax this past Friday...and boy, was it good to be home. It was a last-minute show we decided to put together since the night was available (and it's been WAY too long since we've performed there) -- and also wanted to get another live gig in before our HUGE SHOW at 9:30 Club in 2 weeks which you can purchase your tickets for NOW through any band member or rob@thespeaks.com -- hint, hint ;)

It was SO AMAZING to see all the folks we haven't seen in a while -- Corey and Erin Snapp, all the TT's regulars, Boogs/Nikki & the rest of the SPX Hype Team, Jeremy, Butch, George/Dicki & Co., Brian, and everyone else that helped make Friday night at TT's yet another drunken, yet memorable, one!

Check out some pics below courtesy of Drew. More pics available at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8037331@N08/sets/72157604872267657/

And now for the creme de la creme...

2008-04-30T15:42:00.002-04:00

I think I'm gonna track this guy down and make him my new best friend.

Raffer le Halfeur

Grade-A entertainment...

2008-04-30T15:08:00.002-04:00

Every now and then, we like to do a search on YouTube and check out some of the videos of folks overseas covering our music :)

Here are some recent faves:

"A Day in Traffic (High parody)"

Some dude singing High on a TV show...

Wow...

Floating stage???

2008-04-26T14:45:00.002-04:00

Having breakfast (if eating at 11am is still considered breakfast) and bumped into AJ Pero again - he asked us what truck hit him last night...we reminded him about the round of Sambuca shots we all did :)

Here are some pics of the stage we're playing on later today. It's 40' x 20' and actually floats on the water!

"We're not gonna take it..."

2008-04-26T07:03:00.002-04:00

We ended up hanging out with AJ Pero -- drummer for 80's legends Twisted Sister! Mad cool and had a lot of good advice for us...and this dude can DRINK!!!

Check out their video in all it's corny glory...simply amazing!

I wanna be a JABBAWOCKEE

2008-04-26T07:02:00.000-04:00

Shane Sparks in the muthaf*kkin hizzouse!

America's Best Dance Crew...yeah, i'm a closet fan. Jabbawockeez are the shizznits :)

Shane happens to be one of the celebrity judges for the Indy Rock Wars event -- very cool and an extremely down to earth dude, considering how much of an influence he's had on American pop culture lately!

Pizza pie!

2008-04-26T02:23:00.001-04:00

The SPX family loooves pizza pie.

That is all.

Big Pimpin'

2008-04-25T23:20:00.002-04:00

So, we get to Lake Las Vegas not really knowing what the hell to expect. But a you can see, the organizers of the event really took good care of us :)

They put us up in a couple of suites at the 5-star MonteLago Resort. The SPX Street Team is on their way (getting drunk on the plane as we "speak") - 24 hours til showtime and we're getting hella excited.

Been watching some of the bands competing and there's really some great talent out here! Shane Sparks (America's Best Dance Crew) is one of the judges for the event! We're seriously considering wearing Jabawockee masks during out set tomorrow night...haha.

More to come...

Raffer le Halfeur

The SPX have landed!

2008-04-25T20:30:00.002-04:00

After almost 5 grueling hours, we're FINALLY in Vegas. Jerry, Nette & myself were the "lucky" ones who managed to sit in front of the only 2 obnoxious kids on the ENTIRE plane.

Waiting for our shuttle and Cal -- who is a Vegas virgin -- already managed to lose a whole $1 (see before & after pics above).

So much for beginner's luck...

Sin City - here we come...

2008-04-25T18:20:00.002-04:00

On our way to Vegas - more to come!

No sleep til...

2008-03-15T00:56:00.003-04:00

After less than 24 hours in Austin, we're on our way back to DC to perform at an 11am live-on-air Pre-St. Patty's Day Party @ Hard Rock Café for WJFK's "Big O & Dukes Show." Any show that's having a green bikini contest should be fun :)

SXSW was a blast! Special thanks to Angie from Nuno's (see pic) for treating us like her very own children, red gorilla music for inviting us to be a part of their showcase, Kevin & friends from ME Tv, Shane Cody from the Roots Music Report, our DC boys in Honor By August for showing up and lending their support, and all the amazing new friends/fans we made.

Getting ready to hop on the plane so see you in a few!

SXSW biatches!!!

2008-03-13T21:14:00.002-04:00

Well, after hopping on an 8am flight out of BWI, a rental car fiasco in Dallas (no keys in the 1st van, dead battery in the 2nd van, not a "cool" enough color for the 3rd), some "authentic" mexican food that made us all need to take the browns to the superbowl, we are finally here. SXSW IS FUCKING NUTS! Posting this mobile blog from my phone so can't get into too much detail, but here are some pics from our journey so far. More to come later!

AMAZING

2008-03-01T16:17:00.003-05:00

I stole this from Kanye West's blog -- simply TOO GOOD not to pass along.

Never knew little people could be so gangsta...

On another note -- Derek Lee, Cal, Rob and I went to the Politicks, EBP and Square Trio show at State Theatre last night. Besides Cal being charged for a bunch of drinks he didn't order, we had a blast! Then met up with Archie, Jeremy & Caroline at TT's before heading to Yechon for some late nite korean eats...DEFINITELY paying for it today :(

Leaving for Sin City in a couple hours -- have a great weekend!

raf

the REAL vocalist of The Speaks

2008-02-28T15:46:00.006-05:00

In case you haven't heard, I'm not the original singer for The Speaks.

According to this post on YouTube, "this was the real vocalist of speaks -- the current one is just a proxy since this one had surgery so he was kicked out of the band."

AMESOME :)

raf

ACC Hoops!!

2008-02-27T16:28:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday night, our new music video for "Regret" (which we haven't even officially released yet), the first single off of our new EP "This is the time...", was picked up by Fox Sports for the North Carolina / Wake Forest game that aired at 6:30pm EST (2/24). It all happened so quickly we were barely able to get bulletins posted to MySpace and a blast sent to our email distribution list... but for those of you who missed it, you can check it out below:

As for the actual music video release, we're in the planning stages at the moment for when we'll do that, but it looks like we'll have a special performance where we'll debut the video... so keep your eyes and ears open for that announcement soon!

-dl.

Last Weekend, Cafe Martini & Fuzion Lounge Recap

2008-02-27T15:40:00.002-05:00

Time to recap last weekend's events! Another busy weekend for us with shows in Centreville (Cafe Martini, Friday Feb 22) and Southern MD (Fuzion Rock Room, Sat Feb 23) kept us on the move.

So we've played at Cafe Martini once before and it's a more of a bar than a music venue. While it doesn't have a stage, lights, or house sound, its got a great vibe and is much easier for us to get intimate with the crowd (and the crew that works there is super supportive of us). The only real complaint could've come from a couple of our fans who unfortunately were the recipients of someone getting sick near the bar... luckily, we had plenty of Speaks t-shirts handy at the merch table to get them something dry to change into, haha!

No Second Troy stepped it up on short notice to open the show for us and did an excellent job getting the crowd warmed up. Then we tore everything up the way we usually do, playing a longer first set and then a shorter second set. What was the most amazing thing to me, though, was the fact that just before we started to play there was a line outside of about 30-40 people trying to get in. Wait a second, in Centreville?? Even with the weather being as poor as it was, so many people came out to support. Not only that, but we had birthdays in the house as well: Zen (aka Screech) and manager Sonny's too (and one more that I think I'm missing). All in all it was a great time... especially with our fans that drove all the way from freaking Frederick, Maryland that closed out the place with us... and then had to WORK at some insane hour (5:30am?) the next morning (read: I don't think they slept). Towards the end of the night after we'd finished playing I heard something about "Slash" over the PA but I'm not quite sure what was going on with that... here are some pics (courtesy of our boy Myk Menez) to show you how crazy it was...

As for the Fuzion Lounge, it was our second time getting down to the Southern MD area (still can't believe it's in a city called California, heh), and we were actually early this time (imagine that) so a few of us decided to get dinner next-door at the Asian (predomenantly Viet and Thai influenced) restaurant. Looking over the menu, dinner had the potential of being really good, but when it took over 30 minutes for us to just get our appetizers and then another 30+ minutes to get our dinner... the food was good, but it wasn't quite worth the wait. But the people who worked there were cool and it just looked like they were really short staffed, so it's all good.

Onto the show! Minus One opened things up and it was great to see them as it's been some time since we've heard from those guys. They've been busy writing a lot lately it seems. We performed second and we were all really impressed with how many people came out to support us - had some friends from other bands based out of that area (like Echoes Of Us), some of our old-time SoMD fans, and also met a bunch of new fans too. We had a great set - big stage, good lights, and good sound (not to mention I broke a stick literally in half about 30 seconds into the first song of the night, "Carpe Diem"... that was awesome!). Endway from Massachusetts (yeah! My home state!!) closed out the night in style. Really cool guys & hopefully we can swap some shows together... I'd love to get back up to beantown to play for some of my old friends up there.

As always, a big shout out to our crew who's invaluable to ensuring our shows run as smoothly as they do: Rob, Flip, Noli, Marc and "Mama Missy" - you guys are the best!

-dl.

SPX rock the WAMMIES

2008-02-26T22:14:00.000-05:00

Okay, so we didn't end up taking home the WAMMIE for "favorite hard rock group/duo" (we lost to Wicked Jezebel, an all-female cover band) -- however, we had a BLAST rocking the fuck out of the State Theatre that night!

We weren't sure what to expect going in there, given the fact that the typical demographic of the WAMA organization is a little "older" to say the least. But these folks TOTALLY embraced us from the first note and were totally diggin' it! Special thanks to the WAMA organization for inviting us to play this year and being more proactive about involving the new generation of musicians into the show.

Lesson for the day: NEVER judge a book by it's cover ;)

Check out video of our performance below...

Rams Head, utter debauchery at Angels Rock Bar & Snitch...

2008-02-26T21:31:00.001-05:00

I know this is waaay late, but just wanted to give everyone a brief recap of our trips to Baltimore and NYC last weekend.

Baltimore:
Night started off pretty crappy -- due to major traffic, we were late in arriving at Rams Head and the sound guys were NOT amused. Ended up having a great show though...THANKS to everyone who came out to support, and Vince and Zach for introducing their posses to the SPX family.

Afterwards, we held the afterparty of all afterparties at Angels Rock Bar where a bunch of insanity and drunken debauchery ensued. Anytime you go through 2 bottles of Grey Goose, 1 bottle of Jamison, and 1 bottle of Crown Royal (straight from the bottle), you KNOW it's bound to get pretty stoopid. Special shout out to Patrick for hosting us. Check out the pics below courtesy of our boy Neran D...

New York City:
So after partying in Charm City, we SOMEHOW managed to wake up and get on the road for our show at SNITCH on Saturday night. After stopping by Chesapeake House to get some solid food in our system (Popeyes chicken), everyone seemed to be okay. Got up to SNITCH and found great parking with plenty of time to spare. So we chilled out for a bit and rocked out with the first band who was from Jersey. Second band didn't show up, so we actually got to play a longer set! Amazing crowd and rocked the fuck out. On top of it all, we were surprised to find out that our friends Zach, Bridget and Jon (who were at the Baltimore show just the night before) decided to drive all the way up to NYC to party with us once again -- even though Zach was puking the entire morning from the night before. Haha...true soldiers! Special shout out to Jesus (the soundguy, not the savior) for doing an amazing job and pimping a SPX shirt at a recent show. WE LOVE NYC! Expect us to be playing up there regularly ;)

raf

"this is the time..."

2008-02-19T01:47:00.001-05:00

Well, what would a blog be without a little self-promotion to kick things off? If you haven't picked up a copy of the NEW EP entitled "this is the time..." then cop one ASAP!

5 tracks were co-produced by the amazing Scott Spelbring and 1 by our half-pinoy brother Kevin Gutierrez -- additionally all songs were mixed by Jeff Juliano (Jason Mraz, O.A.R., Dave Matthews, Lifehouse) and mastered by Jay Frigoletto (Alice In Chains, INXS, Saliva).

Track 1 - Carpe Diem (this is the time...)
Track 2 - Runaway
Track 3 - Regret
Track 4 - Nowhere Fast
Track 5 - Fallen Angel
Track 6 - Tomorrow

They are available via the merch page on our website (www.thespeaks.com), CD Baby, and of course downloadable on iTunes!

Thanks and PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD =)

raf

testes, testes, 1-2-3...

2008-02-11T00:16:00.000-05:00

Soooo....

we've decided to jump on this whole "blogging bandwagon" thingy. We've been advised that it:

1) can drive traffic/attention toward our site
2) has the potential to create numerous marketing & sponsorship opportunities for the band, and
3) is a great tool for getting the word out about upcoming shows and exposure for our music.

But the MAIN reason why we decided to start one is simply to show the world what utter and complete idiots we are :)

Let the blogging games begin!

raf